Risk and Regulatory Monthly

The Risk and Regulation Monthly provides a summary of the key International, European and UK regulatory developments and pertinent regulatory activity affecting the Financial Services industry.

* The URLs for the external websites may change over time – links contained within Risk and Regulation Monthly editions are valid at the time of publishing

Current edition

April 2013
April was as busy as ever: the EU Capital Requirements Directive and Regulation package (CRD IV/CRR) was finally approved, there was another G20 meeting, and the UK transitioned to a twin peaks model of supervision, as the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) opened their doors.

Previous editions

2013

March 2013(PDF, 643 KB)
March was another busy month. In the EU political agreement was reached on both the Capital Requirements Directive and the Single Supervisory Mechanism, while in the UK the Financial Policy Committee made recommendations on strengthening the capital positions of UK banks, and multiple documents were issued in the run up to the twin-peaks supervisory regime.

February 2013 (PDF, 836 KB)
February was a busy month, with provisional agreement reached between the European Council and Parliament on the revision to the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD4) and Regulation (CRR), and the introduction of the UK Banking Reform Bill to take forward the recommendations of the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB).

January 2013 (PDF, 816 KB)
Issues related to capital, liquidity and financial benchmarks dominated the policy agenda this month: the Basel Committee published work on risk-weighted assets;  the much anticipated revised liquidity rules for Basel III were issued; and the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) launched several papers on the regulation of Euribor and benchmark-setting more broadly.

 

2012

December 2012 (PDF, 787 KB)
Several widely anticipated documents were issued in December, including the European Council’s agreement on a Single Supervisory Mechanism in the euro area and the first report of the UK Commission on Banking Standards. Additionally, the UK Financial Services Bill received Royal Assent.

November 2012 (PDF, 801 KB)
November saw the appointment of Mark Carney as the Governor of the Bank of England and, accompanying the G20 meeting in Mexico City, several reports by the Financial Stability Board (FSB), in particular on recovery and resolution; intensity and effectiveness of SIFI supervision; shadow banking; and a revised list of globally systemically important banks (G-SIBs).

 October 2012 (PDF, 1.5 MB)
A number of important documents were issued in October, including on Basel III implementation progress internationally, on banking structural reform in the EU and the UK, on how the Prudential Regulation Authority’s (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) will approach supervision, and the final instalment of the Mortgage Market Review.

 September 2012 (PDF, 962 KB)
September was a busy month, with highlights including the announcement of the proposals on “banking union” in Europe, an overhaul of the client money arrangements, and changes to the LIBOR process.

August 2012 (PDF, 918 KB)
It was rather busier in August than usual, as the LIBOR story rumbled on, Basel III faced delay, and anticipation grew of the announcement of “banking union” as an accompaniment to monetary union in Europe.

July 2012 (PDF, 712 KB)
July saw the headlines dominated by the continuing LIBOR saga, but there was also the normal pre-holiday rush of announcements, with papers on financial market infrastructures, UCITS funds and Solvency II.

June 2012 (PDF, 1.54 MB)
June was another very busy month, with a lot of activity around the G20 meeting, as well as the release of the EU proposals on recovery and resolution, proposals for banking union in Europe, a White Paper on banking reform, and at the end of the month the LIBOR saga.

May 2012 (PDF, 934 KB)
May was marked by important announcements on systemic insurers, the fundamental review of the trading book, structural reform in European banking and banking resolution. There were also a large number of FSA enforcement cases

April 2012 (PDF, 889 KB)
April saw a paper on governance from the Group of 30, a flurry of activity on shadow banking as the G20 met, publication of 24 Principles for financial market infrastructures and a large number of speeches from UK policymakers.

March 2012 (PDF, 780 KB)
Issues related to financial stability and macro-prudential supervision, and shadow banking, dominated the policy agenda this month.

  February 2012 (PDF, 1.49 MB) 
February was dominated by work on EMIR (the European Market Infrastructure Regulation) and preparations for the “twin peaks” regulatory structure in the UK.

January 2012 (PDF, 697 KB) 
The month was dominated by the lead-up to the publication of the Financial Services Bill in the UK, and a flurry of international work-plans for 2012.

2011

December 2011 (PDF, 1.19 MB) 
Before Christmas we had HMG’s response to the Independent Commission on Banking, the next installment of the mortgage market review, and the views of the joint parliamentary committee on the draft financial services bill.

November 2011 (PDF, 1.2 MB) 
There have been important announcements on systemic banks, a further round of EU bank stress tests, and more on the early intervention approach to conduct issues from the FSA.

  October 2011 (PDF, 1.19 MB)
We have seen a range of announcements from the Financial Stability Board and the G20, for instance on systemic banks, and a flurry of activity from the EU, on short selling, market infrastructure reform, market abuse and MiFID.

September 2011 (PDF, 1.19 MB) 
The news was dominated by the report from the Independent Commission on Banking, but there were also important developments on systemic banks, derivatives data and a financial transaction tax.     

August 2011 (PDF, 480 KB) 
The holiday period brought a lull in regulatory announcements, although with important news on recovery and resolution plans, and short selling.     

July 2011 (PDF, 1.5 MB)
July was another very busy month, with important announcements on systemic firms (including capital surcharges and resolution arrangements), EU stress tests (both in banking and insurance), new capital and liquidity rules for EU firms, and high-frequency trading.

June 2011 (PDF, 131 KB)
June was described by Deputy Governor Paul Tucker as “pretty busy”. The Chancellor confirmed that major UK retail banking operations would be ring-fenced as recommended by the Independent Commission on Banking; there was a white paper on financial regulation (and papers on the prudential supervision of insurance and the work of the Financial Conduct Authority); the first meeting of the interim Financial Policy Committee; and an announcement on capital surcharges for significantly important banks.

 May 2011 (PDF, 122 KB)
The past month saw an important paper setting out the banking supervisory approach of the new Prudential Regulation Authority, several developments on customer complaint-handling, and a speech by Paul Tucker from the Bank of England on securities markets supervision and financial stability.

April 2011 (PDF, 539 KB)
The headlines this month were dominated by publication of the interim report of the Independent Commission on Banking, and the court case on payment protection insurance.

March 2011 (PDF, 120 KB)
March was a quieter month, although with initiatives on systemic risk and market infrastructure, finalised guidance for the Bribery Act, and further work on stress tests and Solvency II.

February 2011 (PDF, 145 KB)
This was another busy month, with more details published of the proposed regulatory structure in the UK, the latest state of play on the G20 agenda, and the first Retail Conduct Risk Outlook from the FSA.

January 2011 (PDF, 128 KB)
January was marked by important papers from the EU on crisis management, the FSA on product regulation, and John Vickers on the Structure of banking.